New signing Ibrahima Konate was involved for the entire duration against VfB Stuttgart in a pre-season friendly that ended 1-1.
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New signing Ibrahima Konate described his first Liverpool appearance as an “unforgettable moment”. The summer signing represented the Merseyside club for the first time in the second of their back-to-back 30-minute friendlies on Tuesday. Konate, who arrived at the beginning of the month, was involved for the entire duration against VfB Stuttgart in a pre-season friendly that ended 1-1. It was the same scoreline in the preceding meeting with Wacker Innsbruck. Jurgen Klopp’s team fell behind to a slick Philipp Forster goal for Stuttgart but they clawed back to secure a draw when Sadio Mane tucked home Kostas Tsimikas’ low cross.
“Yes, I am very happy,” Ibrahima Konate told Liverpoolfc.com on his debut for the club. “It’s an unforgettable moment for me. Yes, without our fans – but I am very, very happy. Just a little bit sad – very sad – because we didn’t win. But it’s OK, I’m happy. I was very happy with the team on the pitch; good communication with everybody. Step by step we will be better, this is the first time in pre-season. We are waiting for the next game.”
That next fixture for the Reds is on Friday when Liverpool face Klopp’s former club – FSV Mainz 05 – that will see up to 3,500 supporters in attendance. “Of course, this is the best,” said Ibrahima Konate. “[It has been] a very long time with the COVID situation, it was very bad for everybody in the world. And for the football players, very sad when you play without your fans. Now, I think it will be a new level with the fans because the fans were sad to not be here with us. And this will be very, very important to us.”
In the other friendly on Tuesday, Divock Origi’s penalty gave Liverpool the lead in the first fixture against Innsbruck before Ronivaldo’s header secured a draw for the Austrians. After the match, Jurgen Klopp opened up on players operating in new positions in both these games. “I don’t think Harvey had ever played that position for us, but looked good. Ox you could see in the first few minutes immediately that it is an option, definitely. We will see how that goes on. Ibou did really well and that’s what we expected, he looks really good in training,” Klopp added.
“First game with all the young boys, they have really showed up in training but it is different then when you play a first team with all the kids together in the team. It is tough, but no problem – life is tough and we have to give them the opportunity to get tested in these kind of games. We do that and now we carry on.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool defenders Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez were still not fit enough to play for the Reds after returning from long-term injuries. When asked whether they could feature on Friday against Mainz, Klopp added, “It would be a surprise, to me as well. They have looked really good in training and yesterday was the first day where they did very complex things, usually it is either offensive or defensive and stuff like this. We have to get there, step by step, but I don’t expect them for Friday.”
